Brigadier-General Samuel Garland was born at Lynchburg, Va., December 16, 1830, of an old Virginia family, his great-grandmother having been a sister of President Madison. His father, Samuel Garland, Sr., a well-known lawyer, died when his son was five years old. He entered a classical school at the age of seven years, and was graduated at the Virginia military institute, where he was the founder and president of the first literary society of that institution. In 1851 he was graduated in law at the university of Virginia, and he at once entered upon the practice of the profession at Lynchburg. His career during the period before the war was one of worthy prominence, and he became widely esteemed as a skillful lawyer and polished gentleman.

In 1859, after the affair at Harper's Ferry, he organized the Lynchburg Home Guard, of which he was the first captain. He was not by inclination a military man, entering the service both in 1859 and 1861 as a matter of duty; but when enlisted in the fight, no labor was too fatiguing and no peril too hazardous for his devoted and intrepid spirit. On April 23, 1861, he left home with his well-drilled and disciplined company, and proceeded to Richmond, where his men were mustered into the service of Virginia, as Company G of the Eleventh Virginia infantry, on the following day.

Of this regiment, composed of four Lynchburg companies and commands from other Virginia towns, he was placed in command as colonel, a few days later. He took his regiment to camp at Manassas, where it joined the brigade of General Longstreet. In the fight at Blackburn's ford the regiment was distinguished, and Colonel Garland was mentioned by General Longstreet, with others, as having "displayed more coolness and energy than is usual amongst veterans of the old service." In the famous battle of the 21st, the regiment was intended to take an active part, but the Federal flank movement caused the fight to open in another quarter. After the engagement Colonel Garland was detailed to collect the spoil of battle on the field.

In the fight at Dranesville, in December, he was reported as behaving with great coolness. In the absence of orders he held his line until the rest of the Confederate force was entirely withdrawn from the field. In February, 1862, he was commended by General Johnston as fully competent to command a brigade. In March he moved with his regiment to the Peninsula, where the brigade came under the command of A. P. Hill. In the battle of Williamsburg, the most severe loss was sustained by the Eleventh regiment, and Hill reported that "Colonel Garland, though wounded early in the action, refused to leave the field, and continued to lead his regiment until the battle was over, and his example had a most happy effect in showing his men how to win the battle."

Immediately after this Garland was promoted brigadier-general, and was assigned to the command of a brigade of D. H. Hill's division, which after Seven Pines was composed of the Fifth, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-third North Carolina regiments. He was distinguished for gallant conduct in the heat of the fight at Seven Pines; at Gaines' Mill, asked permission and made a flank attack at an opportune juncture, which decided the fate of the day, his men cheering and charging and driving the enemy; and he was in the attacking columns at Malvern Hill.

During the Second Manassas campaign he was with Hill's division, holding McDowell in check at Fredericksburg, after which he joined the army in the Maryland campaign. At Fox's gap, on South mountain, his North Carolinians, scarce 1,000 in all, sustained the first attack of Cox's corps of McClellan's army on September 14th. They held their ground with wonderful heroism in the face of a furious attack. With them, where the fight was hottest, stood General Garland, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Colonel Ruffin. It was to him the post of duty.

On one side lay McClellan with 30,000 men; on the other was the short road to Harper's Ferry, beleaguered by Jackson. The enemy must be held back a day, or the Federals, under an active commander, could overwhelm the divided Confederates. In this position, early in the fight, he received a mortal wound, from which he died on the field. "Had he lived," wrote Gen. D. H. Hill, "his talents, pluck, energy and purity of character must have put him in the front rank of his profession, whether in civil or military life."

Confederate Military History, Volume 3, pp.595-596, edited by Gen. Clement A. Evans of Georgia.